Deck 3: Exploring the Literature of Psychology

Question 1

Of the following,which is available in print (i.e.,as a non-computerized)database of psychological research?

A) Psychological Abstracts
B) PsycINFO
C) PubMed
D) Google Scholar

Answer 1

Psychological Abstracts

Question 2

The method section may include each of the following subsections except:

A) Participants
B) Procedure
C) Materials
D) Apparatus
E) Results

Answer 2

Results

Question 3

A journal article title should be:

A) long and describe the most significant results
B) short,but giving some idea of the contents of the article
C) catchy or clever to arouse the reader's curiosity
D) humorous if the article is boring

Answer 3

short,but giving some idea of the contents of the article

Question 4

The abstract of an article should:

A) be cryptic so that the reader will be forced to read on
B) be a lengthy summary of the article
C) be a short paragraph summarizing key points of the research
D) describe the theoretical aspects of the article for sophisticated readers who already know the research area

Question 5

According to your textbook,which section of a typical research paper would be most likely to include an explicit statement of a general hypothesis for an experiment?

A) Introduction
B) Method
C) Results
D) Discussion

Question 6

According to your textbook,the most common form of a title for a journal article is least likely to show which of the following characteristics?

A) Brevity
B) inclusion of the dependent variable(s)
C) mention of the independent variable(s)
D) reference to the major finding(s)

Question 7

Which should not be included in the "method"?

A) how the participants were selected
B) the instructions given to human participants
C) statistical design features
D) the results of statistical tests
E) the dimensions of custom-built apparatus

Question 8

The major purpose of the "method" section is:

A) to give the reader a general idea of how the study was conducted
B) to allow the reader to replicate the study
C) to permit the reader to determine the theoretical background of the study
D) to allow the reader to determine the data for the study
E) to let people know what sorts of results were obtained

Question 9

A description of which item(s)below would most likely appear in an apparatus section of a journal article?

A) a common assessment questionnaire (e.g.,the Beck Depression Inventory)
B) special requirements of the subject population
C) details about a new form of eye-tracking machine
D) videotapes for clinical interviews

Question 10

When the levels of an independent variable are ordered along a single dimension/scale,the resulting data would most effectively be displayed (i.e.,in a way that could be most rapidly understood by the viewer while still being appropriate)using a:

A) bar graph
B) line graph
C) pie chart
D) table

Question 11

Which of the following would you not find in a "results" section?

A) graphs
B) tables
C) inferential statistics
D) raw data

Question 12

In which section of a research paper is an author ideally supposed to provide a review of the relevant research that has been previously conducted on the topic?

A) Introduction
B) Method
C) Discussion
D) Abstract

Question 13

The following statement should most likely appear in a(n)____ section of an article: The history questionnaire was administered prior to the remainder of the clinical test battery.

A) apparatus
B) materials
C) stimuli
D) procedure

Question 14

Which statement below about PsycINFO is true?

A) It lists citation information for every reference to psychological material.
B) It indexes more than 2,450 journals.
C) It represents a record of psychological research from 1967 to the present day.
D) It provides access to full-text downloads of major articles in psychology.

Question 15

Which subsection of method is most likely to reflect a detailed description of a questionnaire that was used in a research project?

A) Subjects
B) materials
C) apparatus
D) procedure

Question 16

According to the figure below,the number of murders that occurred in the city:

A) increased significantly from 1981 to 1983.
B) remained statistically about the same from 1981 to 1983.
C) reflect a smaller trend than if the entire scale was shown on the ordinate.
D) cannot be determined without inferential statistics.

Question 17

The vertical axis of a graph is called:

A) the ordinate
B) the abscissa
C) the y axis
D) the x axis
E) both a and c

Question 18

Which below should not be included in the "introduction" of a journal article?

A) the predicted results
B) the obtained results
C) justification for the research
D) the hypothesis

Question 19

Why do experienced researchers tend to pay attention to the author(s)of a journal article?

A) They tend to only read articles from authors they know.
B) They are likely to be familiar with the author(s)theoretical perspectives.
C) Only a few,well-known researchers are really respected in the field.
D) Lesser known researchers receive easier reviews in the publication process.

Question 20

Which resource below might a researcher be most likely to rely upon if he/she was interested in quickly becoming aware of the most recent findings on a given topic?

A) Psychological Abstracts
B) PsycINFO
C) APA Publication Manual
D) Social Science Citation Index

Question 21

The Social Science Citation Index is an excellent way to discover new research related to a particular topic.

Question 22

The key question for the critical reader to answer after reading the introduction to an article is:

A) What is the problem?
B) What is the hypothesis?
C) How would I design this study to test this hypothesis?
D) What results would I expect if I did this experiment?
E) What is the author trying to sell me?

Question 23

One comment that came out of the authors' evaluation of the sample article by Mehl,Vazire,Holleran,& Clark (2010)was that:

A) the researchers failed to show a correlation between happiness and substantive conversations.
B) the sample size was ideal.
C) cultural or gender differences might account for the results.
D) no questions were left unanswered.

Question 24

Line graphs are usually used when the levels of the independent variable are scaled at the nominal level.

Question 25

The "abstract" of a journal article is the best way to discover quickly what an article is about.

Question 26

It is customary to divide the "method" into subsections.

Question 27

The references for a journal article must:

A) abbreviate the titles of referenced articles.
B) include only the researcher's own work.
C) be the same as a bibliography.
D) be recent and complete.

Question 28

Which statement below that might appear in a results section of an article deserves the most skepticism?

A) The data reached the proposed level of significance.
B) The data barely missed the proposed level of significance.
C) It appears that a trend in the predicted direction did occur.
D) A marginal,but non-significant tendency in the data was observed.

Question 29

Which question is most likely to be asked by the critical reader during his/her evaluation of the discussion section of an article?

A) Are the major findings unexpected?
B) What hypothesis was tested in the experiment?
C) How would I interpret these findings?
D) What questions are left unanswered?

Question 30

Inferential statistics presented in the "results" tell whether the results can be considered as real or as owing to chance factors.

Question 31

Because computerized literature searches are expensive,they are not as valuable as ordinary literature searches.

Question 32

Which question is most likely to be asked by the critical reader during his/her evaluation of the method section of an article?

A) What are the independent,dependent,and control variables?
B) What hypothesis will be tested in the experiment?
C) Are there any alternative interpretations?
D) What questions are left unanswered?

Question 33

Which question below is a critical reader least likely to ask while reviewing the introduction of an article?

A) What is the author's goal?
B) What hypothesis will be tested in the experiment?
C) If I had to design an experiment to test the hypothesis,what would I do?
D) Does the author's approach actually test the hypothesis?

Question 34

The abscissa is the horizontal axis on a graph.

Question 35

A reference section in an APA-formatted paper should include:

A) citations for relevant research that was not referred to in body of the article.
B) only the most recent research in the area.
C) the most important publications in the research topic area.
D) just the literature that the authors thought supported their theoretical arguments.

Question 36

In the sample article by Mehl,Vazire,Holleran,& Clark (2010),what were the independent and dependent variables?

A) The independent variable was type of conversation and the dependent variable was level of happiness.
B) The independent variable was level of happiness and the dependent variable was type of conversation.
C) There were no independent or dependent variables.
D) The independent variable was personality and the dependent variable was level of happiness.

Question 37

The purpose of a project is stated in the "introduction",but hypotheses appear in the "method."

Question 38

The dependent variable usually appears on the abscissa of a graph.

Question 39

Which section of an article should the reader approach with the most skepticism?

A) introduction
B) method
C) results
D) discussion
E) references

Question 40

The best general resource for an understanding of the literature is Psychological Review.

Question 41

Findings can often appear deceptively robust when researchers abbreviate the scale of the dependent variable along the ordinate.

Question 42

The critical reader will ask,"How would I interpret these results?" when reading the "results" section.

Question 43

The "discussion" typically presents an objective interpretation of the results.

Question 44

The key question to answer about the "introduction" is,"What is the author's goal"?

Question 45

After reading the "method" section,you should know what the independent and dependent variables were.